The Unexpected Impossibility
by DrearyOlive
Summary: One day in an alien marketplace the impossible happened, and Rose was running once more.


The Doctor wasn't expecting it to happen. Ever. In fact it was one of those things that was so completely out of the realm of possibility, that it didn't even factor into his wildest dreams. He had said his goodbyes in the dying moments of his last life, and he had finally been able to let go of the blonde girl who had made him better and whom he could never see again.

Yet here she was, standing in her pink and yellow glory in front of him and smiling. And here he was with his floppy hair and tweed jacket and bowtie. That bowtie…he had never been insecure about it until the moment he saw the top of her head bobbing through the marketplace crowd. Now all he could do was fidget, repeatedly adjusting his tie, as her eyes took in his wardrobe and wandered back to the wares in front of her. No…that's not right…that's not supposed to happen. He stood in the middle of the street as the crowd swirled around him, and she began to wander away. He could have smacked himself, he should really know after eleven bodies and countless companions that its kind of hard to recognize a face you've never seen before. The Doctor surged forward against the push of the crowd, trying to reach the quickly disappearing human.

"ROSE", he practically screamed.

She glanced behind her. She must have imagined someone calling her name. She continued on, wanting to get to out of here before the sun set and the nocturnal alien life decided she might be a tasty meal.

"Rose! Please wait"

Rose heard it again and paused, catching the eye of a young humanoid, who was shoving people left and right. She waited, and he shoved until they were standing right in front each other, being jostled by the moving people. He was that man she had been staring at, the twenty-or-so year old, who dressed like her granddad Prentice used to. She smiled again at the memory of hours spent on his lap, listening to his stories and swearing until her mother told her it was time for bed. As the memory faded, Rose realized that she was still staring. At the same time, she realized that he was too. Staring that is. Really, really hard, and rather inappropriately. She cleared her throat to get his attention, but his eyes just kept wandering up and down her form, a glazed and confused look plastered on his face. She coughed impatiently in an attempt to interrupt his eyes' frolic across her skin.

"Can I help you with—"

"Rose Tyler," he breathed as his eyes finally climbed up to meet her own. Again silence fell, but this time both of them were staring. Confusion and fear flitted across her face, as she kept a wary watch on the green-eyed stranger. The number of people who knew her name in this universe were very few, and the number who were friendly was practically nonexistent. The man didn't stop staring into her eyes, though, and for a second Rose thought she might have recognized the man gazing out from them when a shout rang out down the street.

"DOCTOR." His head flew up, searching frantically for the caller, as the blonde's eyes' widened. A redhead came flying up to him babbling, "We have to go right now. I was in the TARDIS and I heard a crash. I just thought, what's the harm in glancing outside. I mean someone might have fallen, and I can't just leave them lying on the ground. They could be injured. They could have dropped something. I'm just being a good Samaritan. Maybe they needed help with something, and I was just so bored sitting in the console room. And I know you told me to stay inside, but really Doctor, when do I ever listen" She continued on breathlessly, "Anyways, what I'm trying to say is I went outside, and they did drop something, or maybe the better term is threw it. I couldn't just stand there as the beat the poor guy half to death, and I might have told them off a little bit. They might be a little angry, I might have insulted their mothers a number of times, and they might be after me right now." She dropped her hands to her knees, panting from her run, as the Doctor glanced behind her, and sure enough five horned aliens were pounding the pavement towards them with some wicked-looking billy-clubs and determination written across their faces.

The Doctor did the only thing he could then, which he still maintains could not possibly be cheesy or the least bit overdone, and he took the hands of both women, stared into Rose's eyes and whispered, "Run."

This, of course led to frantic pulling of arms and shoving of people as they pushed their way through the crowd, running into people and market stalls and knocking over a great number of both. Rose was stunned into compliance as she was whipped down the street by her arm, but the familiar weight of the hand in hers balanced her, and she was soon dodging her own way through the obstacles of the market, keeping an iron grip on the man beside her. It wasn't until they were six blocks and five turns away that they slipped into an alley and leaned against the walls. The redhead, tired from back-to-back getaways, slid down to sit on the ground. The other two, however, standing on opposite sides of the alley resumed their prior staring. Silence fell once again as their heaving breathes and the murmur of the city around them seemed to fade out of existence.

It could have been twenty seconds of twenty minutes before they both seemed to come to the same decision and threw themselves at each other—

—Only to stop short, a foot still separating the two. Rose reached out her finger and gently shoved his shoulder. He rocked back on his heels in compliance with the gesture. Assured of his solidity, Rose rested her hand on the lapel of his jacket, suddenly refusing to meet his eyes. Her gaze flickered between the ground and her hand before finally resting on his chest.

"Doctor," she asked, "please tell me you're real," her politeness belying the desperate hope that had begun to clog up her throat.

"I'm real," The simple statement was all she seemed to need, and a grin split across her face. All of the shadow that seemed to linger there before were now gone as her eyes shone with unshed tears.

Her other had reached up, and she pulled on both lapels. "You are. You are really here. And you're wearing tweed." The look on her face a mix between a grimace and an even larger smile.

"And a bowtie" with that she tugged on the object in question and straightened it before looking up at his face.

"It's perfect," she whispered, "absolutely perfect."

With that he swept her into a hug, cradling her against his chest as he whispered her name over and over again into her hair. He rocked back and forth, refusing to let go even when Rose began struggling in his arms.

"I have to breathe and some point, Doctor." He pouted as she took step back before closing the distance once again.

"Um…I'm going to do something right now, and you need to tell me if this is alright," her hands came to rest uncertainly on his forearms before gliding up his arms and around his neck. With a quick tug, she pulled him down and pushed her lips against his. She probably should have left it at that, but his surprised squeak made her lean forward and grin against his mouth. She kissed his unresponsive lips for a moment longer before drawing back with an embarrassed blush.

"Doctor, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"

She was cut off when the Doctor yanked her back against him and brought their lips together once more.

So they snogged, desperately clinging together, entangling fingers in hair and latching arms onto waists in an effort to never let go. Long after they had finally reassured each other of their presence and long before they could convince the other that they would never leave again, Rose pulled back for a breath of air.

"Hello," she said with a tongue-in-teeth grin

"Hello," and they both lost track of time as they stared at each other, the silence this time full of unrestrained giddiness.

Someone coughed behind them, and they both spun around to see a startled redhead.

"Doctor, would you care to explain the exuberant kissing?"

He cleared his throat, 'Ah, yes…Amy Pond, I'd like you to meet Rose Tyler, adventurer extraordinaire and newest old resident of the TARDIS," he paused for a moment and looked down at her beseechingly, "Right?"

She grinned up at him again, "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

FIN

**a/n: this is the first piece of writing I've ever published, and I'd love any kind of feedback you'd be willing to give.**


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